"I... feel great."
Leo's voice came through the armor's built-in speakers, clear and steady. None of his former weakness remained.
Across the square, the other ninety-nine elite survivors began to breathe heavily.
Envy, longing, and a trace of fear at such an inhuman transformation mingled in their eyes.
Just as the fervor was about to reach its peak—
Wooo—wooo—wooo!
A piercing alarm sounded throughout Tianshu City without warning!
Everyone's Personal Terminal flashed frantically with blood-red light at the same time.
[Warning! An exceptionally powerful energy signature has been detected beyond the city's outer defensive perimeter!] [Energy level: Epic-grade!] [Target approaching at high speed! Estimated arrival at the main wall: one minute and thirty seconds!]
The mood in the square changed in an instant. The fire that had just been kindled seemed to be doused with a bucket of ice water.
Epic-grade!
The words weighed on every heart.
"Look at the screen!" someone shouted in terror.
Everyone looked up. The enormous screen at the center of the square had switched to a surveillance view from outside the walls.
A gigantic monster pieced together from twisted flesh and rusted metal was charging through the ruins!
It stood over ten meters tall, its bloated bulk like a moving Flesh Mountain. Broken rebar and shattered armor plates jutted from its body.
Its right arm was a horrific butcher's blade, crudely welded from hydraulic machinery and cutting saws, with black machine oil still dripping from it.
Most chilling of all was the rage radiating from it, so intense it seemed ready to spill through the screen.
"It's the Raging Butcher..." Someone in the crowd recognized the monster, his voice trembling. "It appeared once when Lord Richard was still here... An elite squad of a hundred was torn apart in less than ten minutes!"